Entertainment

6 Steps for Protecting Corporate Reputation in the Social Media Age

Layla Revis is vice president of digital influence at Ogilvy PR Worldwide. Her specialties include international affairs, tourism and multicultural marketing.

It takes years to build a good reputation, but seconds to damage it beyond repair, as executives at companies from Dell to Domino’s certainly have found out.

This was a sentiment echoed by executives at the Senior Corporate Communication Management Conference in New York when discussing social media and corporate reputation and how to embrace the new reality of immediate communications.

When you consider the sheer volume of earned media, or word of mouth generated on the Internet each and every day, it is clear that “controlling” messaging is no longer an option for large companies, who, for many years, have been in the driver’s seat when it comes to their own reputation.

So how can a reputation bashing be avoided on the social web? Open communications and speedy response are among the pointers for corporate communicators. Marcus Molina, SVP – Latin American Communications, MasterCard shared these classic examples of corporate crisis and advice on how manage them effectively.

Dell Computers

In 2005, Dell computer owners experienced problems with the company's formerly excellent customer service. Jeff Jarvis, a Dell customer, went to war with Dell on his blog BuzzMachine. Jarvis's campaign brought the power of blogs to international attention, but it’s important to keep in mind that, as Market Sentinal pointed out, corporate reputations are damaged not by bloggers, but by corporate missteps.

Dell's problems arose from its failure to deliver on customer service promises, not from Jeff Jarvis’s blog. However, once the customer service problem became public, Dell committed a second error by failing to address in public the issues that Jeff Jarvis had raised. Dell later decided to engage by establishing Direct 2 Dell, it’s own blog channel to address the concerns head on.

United Airlines

When a country musician saw his guitar tossed by United air raft handlers and United refused to offer any reimbursement for his damaged instrument, he recorded a song and posted a video on YouTube which, to date, has garnered 11 million hits, and was picked up by major media outlets.

Netflix

Qwikster, an online streaming service intended to offer Netflix subscribers more convenience, instead forced the company's nearly 12 million customers with streaming + DVD accounts to create two accounts at two different domain names with two different sets of ratings and preferences. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t take long for Neflix to kill the idea after massive complaints. But in the three months it did take for Netflix to respond, its stock price fell from around $300/share to around $70/share.

Here are those critical steps to heed to avoid crises like those above.

1. Don’t Pretend a Crisis Is Not Happening

As Gemma Craven, EVP from Ogilvy’s 360 Digital Influence team says, “It’s no longer the Golden Hour, but the Golden Minute. Lack of a well crafted, well meaning response could cost you."

Similarly, Robert DeFillippo, chief communications officer from Prudential Financial explains, “It’s just as dangerous to over respond as it is to under respond.”

2. Don’t Make an Empty Gesture

Apologizing for apologizing only comes across as lazy and uninspired.

3. Don’t Refuse to Backtrack

Netflix refused to go back to its original price and its stock still sags below what it used to be.

Social media should be used as a tool for honest communication. Admit your mistake, and speak directly to your customers about how you'll be going back to fix things.

4. Develop Channels of Communication

Utilize or establish a blog, Twitter and Facebook networks and a strong company intranet to reassure customers and employees. This allows you to convey messaging through email, video, or webchats. It’s very democratic in nature. It’s a need in a world that evolves at the speed of light.

5. Establish a Crisis Communications Response Team

Companies must drive the messaging and response. Use listening platforms, monitor sentiment, and establish a dedicated team to inform and advise internal and external stakeholders of issues and responses.

6. Become Influential and Change Perceptions

Become influential. We are the centerpieces of this new world. If you don’t write, take speaking engagements, talk to your audiences and connect, you become irrelevant. You simply disappear.

Use these channels to focus the conversation around your brand so that when a crisis does arise, you have more control over the perception.

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